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Soul Catcher: Java’s Fiery Prince Mangkunagara I, 1726-95

M.C. RICKLEFS is Professor Emeritus of the Australian National University. He was formerly Professor of History at the National University of Singapore and Monash University, and Director of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University.

NUS Press (First Published, 2018)
439 pages including Bibliography and Index

RM130.00

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ISBN: 9789814722841 Product ID: 36285 Subjects: , Sub-subjects: , , , ,

Soul Catcher: Java’s Fiery Prince Mangkunagara I, 1726-95 provides a number of new insights into the figure of Prince Mangkunagara I and at the same time it endorses and elaborates on the author’s previous arguments on Javanese mystic synthesis, and his arguments on the prevalent role of Islam in Javanese history. Prince Mangkunagara I is among the most well-known figures of eighteenth-century Java, especially for his acts of rebellion against Pakubuwono II and against the Dutch East India Company (VOC). In folklore he is depicted as ‘a fighter,’ a perception and attribute for which the Indonesian government granted him a title of national hero together with many others, including the rebellious Prince Dipanagara. Due to the contrasting relations of Prince Dipanagara and Prince Mangkunagara I with the Dutch authorities, the latter was able to establish a princedom: the Mangkunagaran dynasty. Additionally, he was among the three major local figures of the eighteenth century (the other two being Mangkubumi—later entitled Hamengkubuwono I—of Yogyakarta and Pakubuwono III of Surakarta), who were involved in the separation of the Mataram Kingdom into three dynasties.

Mangkunagara I has been known by a number of different names. These include Prince Adipati Pakunegara, Prince Suryakusuma, Mas Said, and Prince Sambĕr Nyawa (‘Soul Catcher’). The last of these names has been much quoted
in the folklore of contemporary Indonesia, and Ricklefs, a prominent historian of Java, has been drawn into the mystery of the prince’s intriguing nickname ever since his passionate study of Java’s history. In 2018, he was finally able to publish the most extensive biography of the prince. It provides very detailed accounts of important events, the situations surrounding wars and battles and the relationships between other figures and powers. With regard to the prince’s personal and literary activities, it deals with feelings and thoughts, and even his love life! It could not have been completed in such a splendid way without broad primary sources both from the Javanese (32 published and unpublished sources) and from the VOC (16 sources), and a number of reference works. Ricklefs uncovers a number of interesting facts, one of them being that the term ‘Soul Catcher’ was not created by Nicolaas Hartingh. It was the name of the battle flag that Mangkunagara created. Ricklefs found the prince to be ‘a littérateur as well as a soldier and pious Muslim—and, of course, a lover of beautiful women and of Javanese high arts such as wayang and gamelan’.

Soul Catcher reveals a religious transformation from the predominance of a type of Islam characterized by mystic synthesis to a more reformist type of Islam that appeared at the end of the eighteenth century in the Surakarta court, promoted by the crown prince who later became King Pakubuwono IV. This prince had shown strong signs of religious devotion that differed from mystic synthesis, and once he became king, he furthered his cause by promoting a culture that was anti-Dutch in nature. He replaced senior courtfigureswith religious zealots that later created a political as well as cultural threat to Surakarta, which also extended to other Javanese political realms and involved Mangkunagara I, Hamengkubuwono I, and the VOC. Although an alliance between the latter three succeeded in dismissing the king’s new favorites and sending them into exile, this type of reformist Islam became even more powerful from the middle of the nineteenth century with more dominating, orthopraxic brotherhoods (tarekat), namely Kadiriyah and Naqsabandiyah. This rich biography of Mangkunagara I provides historical background to reflect on the transformation of Javanese—as well as Indonesian—society in this twenty-first century.

Transcription, Orthography, Toponyms and Personal Names
Dating Systems
List of Maps
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations

Introduction
Background to This Study and Brief Overview of Primary Sources

Part I – Youth and War

1. A Child at Court, Briefly Glimpsed, 1726–42
2. Into Rebellion, 1743–46: Early Skirmishes
3. The Third Javanese War of Succession, Phase 1: Together with Mangkubumi, 1746–51
4. The Third Javanese War of Succession, Phase 2: The Collapse of the Rebel Alliance and Internal Warfare, 1752–53
5. The Third Javanese War of Succession, Phase 3: Mangkunagara Fights Alone and Mangkubumi Becomes Sultan, 1753–55
6. The Third Javanese War of Succession’s, Final Phase: Mangkunagara’s Concluding Battles to Senior Princedom, 1755–57

Part II – War by Other Means

7. Becoming Established in Surakarta and the Defeat of Marriage Diplomacy, 1757–68
8. Dealing with Marginalisation as the Courts Faced a New Century, 1768–78
9. Mangkunagara’s Later Years: Piety, the Arts, Illness and Loss, c.1779–88
10. Religion, the Crisis in Surakarta and Mangkunagara’s Final Victory with His New European Allies, 1787–95
11. Mangkunagaran Legacies

Genealogy of Principal Members of the Mataram Dynasty

Appendix 1: Detailed Discussion of Principal Primary Sources
Appendix 2: Who Was Seh Ibrahim?
Appendix 3: Site of the Battle at Tugu, October 1754
Appendix 4: A Glimpse of Yasadipura I in 1788
Appendix 5: Senior Officers of the VOC in Java during Mangkunagara I’s Life

Acknowledgements
Illustration Credits
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Weight0.5 kg
Dimensions22 × 15 × 2 cm
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